Monmouth County Man Sentenced for Illegal Distribution of Prescription Painkillers in Hudson County

TRENTON - Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that a Monmouth County man was sentenced today to state prison for illegally distributing painkillers in Hudson County and conspiring with pharmacy owners to bill the Medicaid program for the painkillers which he obtained with fraudulent prescriptions.

Jack Kennedy, 30, of Keyport, was sentenced under a plea agreement to three years in state prison. Kennedy pleaded guilty on March 16, 2010 to an accusation charging him with second-degree conspiracy to commit health care claims fraud, second-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, and third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance within 1,000 feet of a school property before Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan in Passaic County. The plea agreement called for a sentence in the third-degree range.

In pleading guilty on March 16, 2010, Kennedy admitted that on numerous occasions between Jan. 1 and Oct. 19, 2009, he filled medically unnecessary or otherwise fraudulent prescriptions and conspired with the pharmacies to bill the Medicaid program for filling those prescriptions. In addition, on Aug. 6, 2009, he sold 60 Percocet pills to a confidential informant. The sale took place within 1,000 feet of St. Paul of the Cross school in Jersey City.

Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi noted that the charge to which Kennedy pleaded guilty is the result of Operation MedScam, an investigation by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Jersey City Police Department's Special Investigation Unit.

Deputy Attorney General David Noble and Detective Kevin Gannon were assigned to the case.